The team played against an opponent who’s been on a high and had won their previous match by 4:1. Their confidence was very high and their game model very fluid and dynamic.
We had prepared very well for the match. We had covered all the aspects where they are a threat. We played a very good and tactical match. The opponent failed to impose themselves on us and we were clearly capable of dealing with all their threats.
We were unfortunate to concede from a quick restart from a corner. Something we had addressed and put emphasis on but football being football, we committed the error and paid the prize for lapse of concentration.
Apart from the goal, we had a very good control of the first half both in defense and attack. We missed a great opportunity to equalize when Mutizwa could not finish a rebound from Parusnath shot at goalkeeper.
The second half was no different. We maintained same structure except the strikers were slightly away from the rest of the team and as a result we couldn’t find the desired cohesion on counterattacks. The opponent then introduced the third midfielder to lock the game.
We attempted in many ways to break them down but at the end victory eluded us. Great lessons can be learnt from this encounter and a few youngsters got to feel how it is playing in a big match environment. We lost the match 0:1.
